1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method of bio-catalysis and, more particularly, to a method of bio-catalysis for the cleavage of ether-linkages in polyethoxylates.
2. Description of the Related Art
Polymers have been widely used in industrial, agricultural and other socioeconomic activities. Polymers, more particularly alkylphenol polyethoxylates, are used as surfactants. However, once the surfactants containing alkylphenol polyethoxylates are discharged into the environment, metabolites from the surfactants tend to be accumulated in soil or water, and may have an environmental hormone effect that causes damage to ecological systems and human health. As a result, the environmental problems related to alkylphenol polyethoxylates have drawn public attention worldwide. In addition, during the bioremediation processes of petrochemical pollutants in soil and groundwater, surfactants are often used as additives to facilitate the degradation of petroleum compounds, and thus there is a need to remove these surfactants to protect the environment from secondary pollution.
Currently, chemical oxidation technologies are usually used to deal with such polyethoxylate related environmental pollution problems. In other words, conventional chemical oxidation methods are often used to degrade the polyethoxylates to solve pollution problems caused by organo-polymers.
However, the chemical oxidation methods require the use of large amount of energy, and may cause other forms of pollution in the environment. Therefore, the use of a bio-catalytic process would be highly useful as a means of degrading organo-polymers for environmental protection and biological restoration.